Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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44. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has met with representatives of an organisation (details supplied) since the opening of a European hub in Ireland; and if so, the dates that such meetings have taken place. [53650/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Recently I attended a photocall with President of Huawei Cloud Western Europe, Mr. Tim Tao and CEO of Huawei Ireland, Mr. Tony Yangxu. The purpose of this engagement was to mark the announcement of a €150m investment in a European cloud hub which is to create 200 new jobs over 5 years at Huawei. Over the next two years, 60 technology-focused roles in sales, research and support will be created, with the remainder in place by 2027. As this investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland, I was also joined by senior officials from IDA Ireland.

As part of this engagement, a short meeting was convened with the group during which I was briefed on the details of the investment announcement and other initiatives that Huawei are involved in. This includes their STEM ‘Seeds for the Future’ programme, which provides scholarship funding for secondary and third level students. The €150m investment will align Huawei Cloud with the existing Huawei functions in Ireland, supporting SMEs and start-up digitisation.

Cloud computing is of critical importance to many businesses, offering flexibility, scalability and reduced costs. Cloud computing is also a key part of the IDA Strategy as digital transformation across sectors will spur further investment in software and software-as-a-service (SAAS). Growth sectors in recent years have been closely aligned to the increasing digitalization of business and society and include Cloud Computing, Cyber Security and Microelectronics. As the delivery of business and consumer services increasingly moves online, cloud computing enables this online delivery.

The meeting and photocall both took place at Government buildings on Monday 10th October. The official announcement was made by the company on 18th October at a Huawei Connect event in Paris.